To the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program



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Date03.03.2018
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To the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program:
My name is Lanny Dellinger and I thank you for the opportunity to comment on the recently released State of Narragansett Bay and its Watershed Technical Report. I have been a commercial fishing since 1980. I started my career shell fishing and currently am the owner operator of the lobster crab boat the Megan & Kelsey at State Pier 9 in Newport, RI. I have served as President of the Rhode Island Lobstermen’s Association and many advisory panels for both the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and for Rhode Island DEM. I am currently serving as the Chairman to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Area 2 Lobster Conservation Management Team as well.
Water Quality and Chemical Wastewater Treatment

I have serious concerns for the health of our bay. I believe the powers to be have made choices long ago, and some not very long ago, that are very detrimental to our bays health as a marine estuary. We have no idea what kind of toxic cocktail we are producing and dumping into our bay every day from the millions of gallons from the many waste water treatment plants that release their effluent to our bay. Rhode Islanders deserve to better understand what effects this and the grand experiment (the extreme Nitrogen reduction schedule that the late Dr Scott Nixon had raised concerns about) has had on Narragansett Bay and the plant and animal life that once flourished. Many jobs have been lost both in harvesting and the support and infrastructure of the commercial fishing industry. The healthy delicious seafood once provided by Narragansett Bay is in jeopardy. Citizens of the state should be made aware of the problems facing our bay and have the opportunity to weigh in on how to best manage it.



Conclusion
After reading through your report it is apparent there are insufficient amounts of research on key native species of Narragansett Bay - both animal and plant that seem to be in trouble. We need to find adequate funding in order to get these research needs conducted. I attended two of the recent public meetings and gave much oral testimony as to my observations over many years. I applaud you for all of your hard work getting this document completed. As you can see from my comments above, I believe that these changes are of vital concern and that there is no time to lose in finding out what is causing them. I am sure we can have all members of the commercial fishing community support this initiative and help to lobby in getting the funding Narragansett Bay both needs and deserves. I would like to suggest a meeting where a research agenda and funding strategy could be discussed with the concerned public and NBEP staff and technical committee.
Sincerely,

Lanny Dellinger

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